Indifference of the authorities concerned has resulted in several centrally-protected monuments in North Karnataka being encroached upon and facing its decimation.
Several buildings belonging to the state government and private parties have come up within the protected areas. The latest in the list is Sikandar Shah’s tomb in Bijapur.
Members of the Hubli-based Heritage Club and activists in Bijapur have taken exception to the apathy of the district administration and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in preventing the encroachments.
Heritage activist H G Daddi, chief of Hashimpeer Dargah Sayyad Shah Murthuja Hussaini, senior advocates Tulashiram Suryavanshi, Manoj Hanagal and social activists Raju Gachinmath, Sanjay Hiremath and Raju Magimath have asked the prime minister to take immediate measures to protect the rare and invaluable cultural property that represented the cultural heritage of the nation.
The monument, situated near Saraf Bazar in Bijapur, is a centrally-protected monument and is maintained by the ASI, Dharwad Circle. The site is historically and culturally important as this is the mausoleum of the last emperor of the Adil Shah Dynasty, which ruled this part of India for nearly 200 years and built the world famous monuments like Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim?Roza.
Thanks to the apathy of the officials who were supposed to take steps to protect the monument, land grabbers have laid their hands on the site and have begun constructing commercial complexes in the prohibited area. A portion of the monument has already been demolished and some concrete structures have already come up there.
According to the Archaeological Monuments and Sites Restoration (AMSR) Act 1958 an area of 300 metres from the monument is a protected area. Another 300 metres is prohibited area. The Act stipulates that stealing anything, mutilating, destroying and encroaching amount to violation of the Act and attracts punishment. The punishment is Rs 5,000 fine or three months imprisonment or both.
The Deputy Commissioner of the district is the custodian of all these monuments.
Ironically, the ASI had failed to initiate any action against the encroachers even months after the land grabbers started construction activities there, the heritage activists alleged.
“This has given rise to suspicion that the ASI officials, local as well as in Dharwad Circle Office of the ASI, are hand-in-glove with the land grabbers and they themselves are allowing the land sharks to encroach upon the invaluable cultural property and the valuable huge open land around it,” Daddi alleged.
The activists have also sought stringent action against the land grabbers who had scant regard for the culture of the nation and the ASI (Dharwad Circle) Superintending Archaeologist and other officials who were trying to escape their basic responsibility of saving the protected monuments by giving silly reasons. “If we don’t act swiftly, India will be losing one more invaluable cultural asset forever,” they said.
Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni has written several letters to the authorities drawing their attention to the damage being reeked on the monuments.
He had even written to Karnataka Governor, and the Governor in his reply had promised to alert the government, but nothing has happened after that.
Renowned archeologist S K Joshi who has done a doctorate on the water system of Bijapur and has written several books, feels that the AMSR Act should be enforced strictly. For this, the ASI should be given powers. He said, the government should look at the monuments as heritage materials instead of considering the religion it relates to.
Efforts to contact the ASI superintendent did not succeed as there was no response from the office.
EXPERT SPEAK
- Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni, who has been fighting for the protection of the monuments: “The people of Bijapur and the government have failed to understand they are losing a treasure of international importance. They have no business to encroach the monument sites. The Wakf Board has also taken over space in protected areas.”
- There are 110 Monuments “Protected” by Archaeological Survey of India.
- They have been enlisted in 1914. The monuments are classified as defence architecture, religious, water systems and domestic architecture.
- Fort, fort wall, entrance gates, bastions, citadels and moat come under defence category. Mosques, temples and churches come under religious architecture. Mecca Masjid, which is exclusively meant for ladies, Janjeri Mosque, Jumma Masjid, tombs of Sufi saints and Ibrahim
- Roja among others are religious monuments. Ibrahim Roja built by Ibrahim II has an impact of Hindu archtecture. Jumma Majid is one of the biggest in South India similar to the Jumma Masjid of Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Hyderabad
The domestic architecture includes the Anand Mahal, Asar Mahal, Arash Mahal and Paani Mahal. These are the places where the Kings lived and conducted Darbar. Now these have been converted into government offices and residences of district level officers. The octagonal-shaped Sangeeta Mahal, the venue of Navarasapur Utsava was built by Ibrahim II. He was a good poet and was called Jagat Guru. He was a truly secular King and has composed ‘Ganapati Stotra’ which ends with the line “Ibarahimane Rachaya”. His period in the 16th century is considered the golden period in Bijapur’s history.
The world famous Gol Gumbaz, Ibrahim Roja, Baara Kaman, Tas Bavadi, Chand Bavadi, Arakilla area, Upali Buruz, Malik-E Maidan, and Gagan Mahal are attracting large number of tourists but the measures to protect them are highly inadequate.
